The Collapse At Kirkcaldy (2019)
Interdisciplinary Residency Project
Hospitalfield, Arbroath, Scotland
-
The Collapse at Kirkcaldy is a site-specific audio installation conceived for Hospitalfield, a historic house and arts center in Arbroath, Scotland. Through museum-style descriptions presented via speakers at seven locations within Hospitalfield, the installation tells the rags-to-riches story of Philip Arnot Forbes, a fictional 19th century owner of the building. At first blush, the installation appears to present a straightforward account of the history of the house, and of Mr Forbes’ life story. But as visitors explore the rooms, those who are attentive begin to notice a mounting series of inconsistencies about the house’s history, its owner’s background, and the actual sources of his wealth. The recorded commentary in each room is relatively brief, but rather than running on a simple loop, details change and the story wavers from one telling to the next. Audio content in museums is generally presented as authoritative and automatically accepted as trustworthy; in contrast, these specific recordings, through their relentlessly proceeding permutations, create an atmosphere of unease, ultimately raising concerns even about the physical safety of visitors to the house. The narrator’s habit of occasionally lapsing into the first person when referring to the house’s owner further undermines the reliability of the narration, calling into question the motives that lurk behind the recordings and their inconsistencies.
The central narrative of the installation regards the owner’s rise from rural poverty to wealth through industry and merit. But the lapses in the recordings cast doubt on this “official” account, hinting at an untold background story involving privilege and deception. The installation speaks to contemporary political debates about social mobility, and encourages visitors to engage with, and question, received myths about the sources of social value and the determinants of economic success. The presentation of the installation in the form of an unreliable museum stimulates further questions about the role of educational and cultural institutions in perpetuating existing social hierarchies. By inserting a subtle, unsettling corruption in the heart of a traditionally trusted narrative form, the installation ultimately highlights the importance – and the fragility – of ideologically neutral research and dispassionate truth-telling, particularly in a world that is already overwhelmed with undiscerning judgments and fake news.